And then he smiled and was silent. His whole nature seemed serenely alight: he stood on the hearth, leaning his elbow on the mantel-piece, musing not unblissfully.
Twilight was closing on the diminished autumn day: the school-room windows—darkened with creeping plants, from which no high October winds had as yet swept the sere foliage—admitted scarce a gleam of sky; but the fire gave light enough to talk by.
And now Louis Moore addressed his pupil in French; and she answered, at first, with laughing hesitation and in broken phrase: Moore encouraged while he corrected her; Henry joined in the lesson; the two scholars stood opposite the master, their arms round each other's waists: Tartar, who long since had craved and obtained admission, sat sagely in the centre of the rug, staring at the blaze which burst fitful from morsels of coal among the red cinders: the group were happy enough, but—
"Pleasures are like poppies spread;
You seize the flower—its bloom is shed."
The dull, rumbling sound of wheels was heard on the pavement in the yard.
"It is the carriage returned," said Shirley; "and dinner must be just ready, and I am not dressed."
A servant came in with Mr. Moore's candle and tea: for the tutor and his pupil usually dined at luncheon time.
